One of my favorite speeches is The Common Denominator of Success by Albert E.N. Gray. This was delivered at the National Association of Life Underwriters Annual Convention in 1940.

It’s worth reading the entire speech, but here’s the most important line: “The common denominator of success – the secret of success of every man who has ever been successful – lies in the fact that he formed a habit of doing things that failures don’t like to do.”

The real estate students who do well in my class usually do not enjoy studying any more than the students who don’t do well.  The successful students formed a habit of study.  They are studying every day, making flash cards, and taking practice exams.  Meanwhile, the unsuccessful students formed a habit of making excuses, “studying” while watching TV, and surfing the internet to find the latest tool that will help them study rather than actually studying.

Successful students form a habit of making flash cards, answering practice questions, and prioritizing studying for the real estate exam over other activities in their life.

Gray goes on to say that successful people are motivated by results while failures are motivated by activities. I have students who study that same few chapters over and over. They know this material, so it is more enjoyable than studying the material they don’t know.  Late when they fail the exam, they say, “But I studied for three days!”  These people focused on pleasing activities (studying the easy material) rather than pleasing results (passing the Florida real estate exam).

This applies to life outside of getting your real estate license as well. The successful sales associates at your office don’t necessarily work harder or have more talent than the others.  They’ve formed a habit of doing things the failures don’t want to do.

If you work in timeshare, those tops reps were not born at the top. They worked on their presentations and studied their scripts until it was perfect.  That’s not always fun.  But it’s always fun to pick up the big paycheck.

If you work in residential sales, you only spend about 25% of your time working with clients and selling houses. The bulk of your time is spent prospecting for new clients.  The successful sales agents are not necessarily smarter.  They don’t even enjoy making prospecting calls.  But they have formed a habit of it.

Check out The Common Denominator of Success. For 2018, commit to forming a habit of doing things that failures don’t like to do.  If you do that, 2018 will be your most prosperous year ever!

Please note that neither I, nor anyone in the Climer family, have any affiliation with Climer School of Real Estate.  My father, Ron Climer, sold Climer School of Real Estate in 2014.  You can find me at Demetree School of Real Estate.